


All This Time

by SharonStark



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Dancing, F/M, Iron Man - Freeform, Pepperony - Freeform, Romance, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-25 23:32:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18711928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharonStark/pseuds/SharonStark
Summary: Tony and Pepper have their slow dance during their wedding.





	All This Time

Tony and Pepper’s slow dance during their wedding. 

Song: All This Time by OneRepublic (I suggest listening to it, especially as you read this. I hope you all enjoy! I had so much fun with this.)

\-----------------------

**“May I have this dance, Mrs. Stark?”** He asked with an emphasis on the Mrs. Stark, that charming smile of his plastered to his face - but this one reserved for his one and only, for his _wife_. God, he couldn’t believe she was his wife now - this incredible woman, the one that’s dealt with him for _so many frustrating_ years, agreed to _marry_ him. How crazy is that? He thought, but boy, was he grateful and beyond ecstatic about it. 

__

__

And so was she.

 **“Are you actually giving me a choice this time, Mr. Stark?”** Pepper questioned, her tone playful as she slipped her hand into his, his fingers immediately curling around her smaller hand, pulling her up out of her chair and into his arms.

 **“I thought this time I might get a yes. You know, considering.”** He gestured around them, at their _wedding._ **“And hey, at least you’re wearing deodorant this time, right? You smell great, anyway.”** He praised her, his words honest even though they were reliving that night he pulled her onto the dance floor of his Firefighters Family Fun Charity Event those many years ago. 

****

****

God, it was surreal to think about how they went from that moment, dancing as boss and assistant, to this moment dancing as husband and wife.

Pepper shook her head with a laugh, happily following him onto the dance floor under the large canopy decorated with string lights, their guests sat at their tables watching as the newly wed couple were about to host the first dance; with Rhodey and Happy sat nearest to them, knowing grins on their faces as though they knew this moment was going to happen at some point in their lives. They were probably the only two that didn’t.

 **“At least this time I won’t have to worry about you disappearing on me, hm?”** A dig right back at him which left Tony speechless, that defeated smile on his face, unable to think of a better comeback. 

This woman was so good at out sassing him - she had so much dirt on him which made it impossible to win most of the time. But damn did he lover her because of it. No woman had ever been able to challenge him like she did, no woman had been able to ground him like she did, and no woman had been able to capture her heart like she did and no one else ever would. It would forever be hers. 

**“Will you ever let me live that down, Miss Potts?”** He said in that hushed voice of his, his arm going around her waist and pulling her closer, readying himself for their chance.

 **“It’s _Mrs. Stark now_. And no.”** Pepper replied simply with that proud smile of hers.

 **“Right, Mrs. Stark.”** And he knew that. They both did, but there would still be moments where the use of Miss Potts would happen, it was just such an important thing between them - a ten year plus long habit - that they wouldn’t be able to break, but both of them were more than fine with that. He was definitely going to take advantage of this one, though; he couldn’t even stop repeating it in his own mind. Mrs. Stark. _Mr. Potts_. 

But hearing him call her Mrs. Stark made Pepper’s heart flutter - it was so endearing to hear, so surreal, and she truly was looking forward to hearing it for the rest of her life, something Pepper never even imagined would happen. Or rather, not during those many years ago when she was still working as his PA. Who knew the two of them would end up here in this very moment?

Both Rhodey and Happy’s grins grew even wider.

With their hands entwined - just as their lives forever were - and their arms holding onto the other, the music began to play. It was quiet and slow, the tone building - their eyes connected.

Then came the piano...followed with their movements together.

_“Six on the second hand, till new year’s resolution...”_

Pepper smiled, instantly recognizing the song he had chosen for them to dance to and her eyes were already watering, a quiet chuckle falling from her lips at his _beautiful_ choice of song. 

And he smiled in return, chuckling with her and not daring to take his eyes off of her gorgeous face.

_“There’s just no question what this man should do. Take all the time lost, all the days that I cost. Take what I took and give it back to you.”_

He mouthed those words to her, knowing them by heart and knowing them to be true.

_“All this time we were waiting for each other, all this time I was waiting for you. We got all these words, can’t waste them on another. So I’m straight in a straight line running back to you.”_

They were both all smiles when those lyrics were sang because both of them knew it to be true. Even though they hadn’t realized it at the time, they were both waiting on each other and then they came to realize that they were in love with the other, but still, they waited. They waited to say anything because they were closer than they ever had been and what if it changed things for the worse? They both feared loving the other when the other didn’t love them in return the same way, not to mention everything happening at the time - what with Tony’s palladium poisoning and Pepper’s struggle as newly promoted CEO...so they waited. 

But Tony was the one ready to come out with it, he was the one ready to tell Pepper exactly what was happening to him and exactly how he felt about _her_. But anytime he was about to try, something prevented him from doing so, until that kiss on the rooftop. The kiss that conveyed it all for them, the kiss that changed everything. And not for the worse. But for the better.

_“I don’t know what day it is, I had to check the paper. I don’t know the city, but this isn’t home.”_

Those lyrics brought Tony back to his time in Afghanistan, when he was lost, when he was as far away from home as he could get - not his mansion or his cars, not his company, but far from Pepper. _His home_. 

Any time he was away from her, he was away from home.

_“But you say I’m lucky, to love something that loves me. But I’m as torn as I could be where ever I roam.”_

It had always been a challenge for Tony to love himself, and to accept that he could be loved despite the kind of man he was, and the childhood he had, but Pepper made him believe it - she made it feel real, she made it feel _true_. No matter how torn Tony was, no matter how broken he had been, Pepper always fixed him - he always put him back together and never gave up on him, she was _always_ there, she was his constant in life.

And she always would be.The way she was looking at him told him that and he made sure to convey it right back to her.

 _Hear me say...All this time we were waiting for each other, all this time I was waiting for you. We got all these words can’t waste them on another, so I’m straight in a straight line running back to you.”_

She leaned her head forward so the side of it could rest against his, her chin on his shoulder and her eyes falling closed - taking in this moment and taking these lyrics to heart because they resonated so perfectly with them, and Pepper couldn’t help but let the tears fall from his eyes, her hold on him tightening.

Pepper knew she was in love with Tony after he came back from Afghanistan - she had come to accept it, but acting on it was a whole different story. They nearly did that night on the balcony after their first dance, but other things happened and Pepper took that as a sign to keep her feelings at bay. Given all that had happened, and all that was still happening, it wasn’t a good time and she didn’t want to ruin what they already had. She felt it best to keep the truth to herself because there was just too much going on from her struggling promotion to Tony’s Iron Man reveal aftermath - she feared that things would only become worse if she allowed herself to love him...

But then _that_ kiss happened. Their first kiss on a rooftop after having escaped death and after resigning. It was that moment that Pepper knew, there was no going back. She allowed the kiss to happen because she _wanted_ it to happen just as much as he did and it was at that moment that she came to terms with her feelings for him, deciding that she could not, and did not want to, live without this man in her life. 

And she wouldn’t have to.

_“Yeah, oh running back to you. Oh, running back to you.”_

They were so in sync in this moment, swaying together to the music, their eyes closed, both of them smiling - holding one another as close as they possibly could. They were taking in every single moment of this, every single moment of one another, just as they always had.

When the pace of the song began to pick up, the climax of it closing in, Pepper opened her eyes and pulled her head back so she could look at him and his eyes opened just in time to meet hers - both of them full of tears with trails down her cheeks. 

They could tell, just by looking at the other, that they were both thinking of their past - from the moment they met to this moment now. From the little moments, to the huge ones - they flashed through their minds. Their first dance, their first kiss, working on the tower together, the first night they made love, all their laughter and their flirtatious banter...

_“Oh, every time so far. It’s just so far. To get back to where you are...”_

...watching as Tony flew that missile into space while Tony prayed for her to answer his call, their many soft moments down in his garage before the attack, reuniting after saving one another from Aldrich, the many times Tony returned from his missions with Pepper running straight into his arms, the proposal, the planning, her walking down the aisle...all of it flashed through their minds. And all of it bringing them to this moment. 

_“All this time we were waiting for each other, all this time I was waiting for you. We got all this love can’t waste it on another so I’m straight in a straight line running back to you. I’m straight in a straight line running back to you, yeah.”_

And then the song hit the highest part and right at that moment, their lips connected and both their hearts were sent into a fluttering frenzy, igniting from the irrevocable love they had for one another - the love that grew stronger and stronger each and every day. 

The song started to slow down, the end of it nearing and their lips pulling apart but not their bodies, and never their hearts. 

Their foreheads came together as their movements slowed with the song, evidence of tears now on Tony’s cheeks, too, prompting his wife to kiss just under his eyes as he quietly sang the last lines to her...

 _“Straight in a straight line, running back to you...”_

And he always would. She was his home, he was her home and now, they were going to start a new one together - as husband and wife. And...

Her hand that was holding his lowered to her stomach, holding his hand there with that tearful, but forever loving and joyful smile still in place.

...As Mommy and Daddy.


End file.
